Stray Emmy Observations (and Supporting Actress)
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 7:21PM 
Raising Hope is Wacky. So is the definition of "GUEST ACTOR"Now that this morning's Emmy nominations have sunk in here's a few things we didn't cover earlier or didn't dig deep enough into in the earlier rundown, largely inspired by your comments.
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
This is where we are reminded that the Emmys have too many categories and category fraud adjusts to include all of them. How on god's green earth is Cloris Leachman a "guest actress" on Raising Hope when she's a member of the main family and in every single episode? I see her winning with that unfortunate advantage given that the Glee nominees (Gwyneth Paltrow, Kristin Chenoweth, Dot Marie Jones as "Beiste") may cancel each other out and Tina Fey (as host of SNL) is already buried in Emmys. Since I am adamantly opposed to category fraud and since Gwynnie's follow up Glee visits paled in comparison to her first and since Cheno had virtually nothing to do this season, my vote would have to go to Elizabeth Banks for 30 Rock.
Guest Actor & Actress in Drama Series
These categories usually belong to the Law & Order franchise but this year we're blissfully absent of rapists, perverts and victims. Unless some of the characters I'm unfamiliar with qualify and who knows. Three Mad Men made the grade including Cara Buono's jilted businesswoman, Robert Morse ("Cooper" of Sterling Cooper) and everyone's favorite dead woman "Miss Blankenship" (Randee Heller).
"'Who got an Emmy nod for mouthing off and getting Lafayette laid proper?' I DID, HOOKER"True Blood's Troubles
True Blood which we've been writing about generally gets 3-5 Emmy nominations but last year it added a surprise "Best Drama Series" to its tally. This year it was demoted again with only four nominations for its third season, the one about the V addicted werewolves and the King of Mississippi. The weirdest bit of awards trivia for True Blood though: It has never been nominated for any acting prizes with Emmy (it's won Globes) until now and the person who did it for them is Alfre Woodard who basically only cameo'd in Season 3 as Lafayette's crazy homophobic mama.
It goes to show you, just like Kathy Bates's lead actress nomination, that sometimes all you need is to be an actor who brings "prestige" on to the set with them and you're in.
Reality
I've long maintained that despite this genre of television's dearth of originality, Emmy still can't separate the wheat from the chaff. How is it that The Amazing Race wins every year and Project Runway, even at its peak, couldn't? And how stupid that RuPaul's Drag Race, the one reality show that seems to both totally "get" and use the genre's inherent and inescapable self absorption and branding repetition in witty self absorbed and branded ways can't even get itself a nomination. Not even for RuPaul as host!
Costume Design
Nobody speaks of this at the Emmys but costume design is always interesting even when the nominees aren't. It speaks, like awards always do, to what people value. It's beyond maddening that Janie Bryant, who is a straight up genius and crucial to Mad Men's iconicity as a pop culture phenomenon, has never won an Emmy. This year she's nominated again for one of the season's strongest episodes. She has an astonishing gift at stitching characterization to theme and vice versa and then detailing the look with period specificity and accessorizing it with eye candy. In short her work is versatile and trascendant and richly deserving of gold statues; I fully expect her to lose again
"The Beautiful Girls" (Hendricks, Moss, Buono) are all nominated for Emmys this year!
The Shortlist
Boardwalk Empire "Anastasia" John Dunn
The Borziaga "Lucretia's Wedding" Gabriel Pescucci
Game of Thrones "The Pointy End" Michelle Clapton
Glee "New York" Lou A. Eyrich
Mad Men "Beautiful Girls" Janie Bryant
Supporting Actress Comedy
I started to get at this earlier this morning when I mentioned that I think Jane Lynch, a wonderful performer, did not deserve a nomination this year for Glee. They've written her Coach Sylvester into too many one-note corners on Glee and whenever they try to give her more to work with -- such as in the maudlin funeral episode when her mentally disabled sister died -- it usually comes off as elaborately contrived specifically to give her something more to work with. The character was an instant hit but too one-note in concept for long haul pleasures. But the Emmys being the Emmys, Lynch will probably be nominated until Glee goes off the air. And the more I thought of Lynch's default nomination the more it occurred to me that even my beloved Jane Krakowski was maybe nominated by default, too. First I should say that "Jenna" is, give or take Jack Donaghy, the best character on 30 Rock and Krakowski has earned the Emmy she has yet to win several times over. But then I'd have to add that if you're judging solely by the season you're supposed to be judging by this may have been her weakest year. The overall quality of 30 Rock was down which can't have helped but her material last year (like dating a drag version of herself) was hugely inspired in comparison. So if I had to construct the perfect lineup for this particular tv year (the 2010/2011 season) it might actually look like this.
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Heather Morris & Naya Rivera (special joint nomination), Glee
Busy Philipps, Cougar Town
Aubrey Plaza, Parks and Recreation
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family.
It might. I'm still thinking about it. (Since I don't actually get a ballot, I can take my sweet time.) Do you like my Emmy lineup here or will you stick with the official one?
30 Rock, Alfre Woodard, Cloris Leachman, Costume Design, Emmy, Glee, Jane Krakowski, Mad Men, RuPaul's Drag Race, TV, True Blood
Reader Comments (28)
Busy Phillips was ROBBED!!! (Nope, I am still not over it!)
Jack Donaghy? (Not Jack Dawson?)
Jake --HA. Titanic brain-fart there.
The snub in the BSA Comedy category that most annoys me is Phyllis Somerville in "The Big C." She was hosed, as was the show in general.
I love Busy. She is so funny.
Your category is so much better.
I think Julie Bowen deserves the Emmy in a walk. Sofia Vergara is endlessly funny but sometimes I catch her overdoing it, and it's an easy argument that Gloria is a very one-note character, even though you can't help but adore her.
Claire is arguably the most dynamic character in the ensemble—just think of the complex ways she relates to all of the other characters. She's the anti-daddy's girl and former wild child, the mother raising teenage daughters (and relating to each of her children on such different levels), the gracefully indignant stepdaughter to a woman younger than she is, and one part of a brilliant screwball married duo. And that's not even including the brilliant brother/sister writing and chemistry between Bowen and Ferguson. What's more is, Bowen occasionally has to play all of these things in a single scene—all while maintaining a spark in Claire's eye that lets us know she still has rebellious sense of self in the face of all her responsibility.
There is not a weak link in that cast, but if I had to pick the strongest, it'd be Bowen.
Hell yes to Phillips over Lynch, though I love them both as actresses. The Glee girls were strong but hindered but a really up-and-down season. I love Betty White, but man, what I've seen from her in Hot in Cleveland is just awful. I apparently need to get around to Parks and Recreation, but I think I'll have to start with Season 2 (could barely sit through the grating pilot episode). Your list looks head and shoulders above the real one.
As for Leachman... yeah, the less said, the better. Happy for Plimpton though.
Hayden -- i think you missed your calling. you should be an awards publicist for actresses. You've convinced me to change my vote to Bowen. (especially given that i already thought she made a huge leap forward in performance in Season 2)
Yay! It is such an unquestionable ensemble (like I said, without a weak link) so I hate pitting any of them against each other. I just think Claire is situated within the bunch in a way that makes her harder to play than the colorful periphery family members. She's the musculature of the ensemble the way Ed O'Neil is the soul of the show, since Jay's both a patriarch AND the character the script has to work the hardest to earn a tender moment from.
Guys, guys, guys!
If you want to talk about Busy Phillips, you can't not talk about Crista Miller!!
For me, Miller is the stand-out from Cougar Town.
Laurie? UGH.
I love your line-up so much more, cougar town on the whole was snubbed, what do the emmy's have against Courtenay cox
^ IKR, I live for the day that Courteney Cox finally gets some recognition from the Emmys. It must suck to have been the only Friends character to go nomination-less, but to, even years later, not be able to get in? That must kinda hurt. And then Matt Leblanc comes along and gets a nod, easy.
Blah.
Honestly, I'm just waiting for David Schwimmer to get another Emmy nomination and join Matt LeBlanc (Episodes), Jennifer Aniston (30 Rock), Matthew Perry (The Triumph) and Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback) in getting their post-Friends Emmy love.
I'm telling you: they'll ALL go back for seconds before Courteney will be able to even get her first!
elizabeth banks is ok, but 30 rock's guest actress nomination should have gone to chloe moritz or cristin miloti for their fantastic work in 'TGS hates women'. at least they didn't go with the lazy automatic elaine stritch nod
par -- ZOMG. I'd completely forgotten about Cristin Miloti in 30 Rock. Talk about what someone can do in one episode that can theoretically be deemed awards worthy despite the nothing screen time. (sigh) but those categories really do seem to mean "famous person you snagged for sweeps week" more than they mean anything about performance in any year since the category was invented.
I didn't think she'd get a nomination anyway, but Sherri Shepherd was great in 30 Rock's "Queen of Jordan". Some of the best moments of the season came from that episode.
I still love 30 Rock with all my heart, however, the Tracy-schtick has gotten gradually more tiresome, and I never understood why they needed Cheyenne Jackson's character in the first place - he rarely gets anything to do, and his acting just isn't in sync with the show's style. Also, Will Arnett shouldn't keep getting the Guest Actor nominations - he's completely one-note, and in an annoying way. Fortunately, I think he was only in one episode this season.
Nevertheless, it's the only comedy series that I care about at the moment (Weeds used to be no 2, but went gradually to hell after season 3).
I'm with you on the Glee issue. Naya and Heather are killing it now that they actually get scripts to work with. However, Dot-Marie Jones, a series regular, should have been nominated in Supporting Actress instead of Jane Lynch this year. Bieste is the complete opposite of Sue in writing on the show. Her gimmick--the blunt mixed-metaphor badass--feels fake, while her "give her something more moments" feel real. I'd rather watch an hour of Bieste deciding she's going to dress as Santa and preserve Britney's innocence for another year than five minutes of her snorting and screaming like a madwoman.
I really do understand why Cox was snubbed all her years in Friends, I didn't really like her character. I mean she was good in scenes with others but she wasn't that good.
But Cougar Town is a different ball game. It's a laugh-out-loud show. And guess what, she's really good. This would've been a better place to recognize Cox for her talent. I'm starting to think there is a bias with Cox within the Television Academy, I mean come on!
Amy Poehler. Deserved. I hope she wins.
Martha Plimpton. Deserved. I was very happy about this.
Tina Fey. God knows I love her but she has an Emmy for every side table at her house. But I cannot take away the fact that 30 Rock is still one of the funniest shows on TV.
Edie Falco. Residue from last years win. She's good but show is absolutely not funny. And neither is she.
Melissa McCarthy. Cute character in a mess of a show. Only got in because of likability and Bridesmaids afterglow.
Laura Linney. Got in because she's Laura Linney. The "prestige" factor" (see Geena Davis, Glenn Close and the before-mentioned Kathy Bates)
I already ranted about Naya Rivera in your other Emmy post. STILL NOT OVER IT UGH.
Nat, have you read the interview at HitFix with Amy Poehler, in which she comments on Nick Offerman's ("Ron Swanson") snub:
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/emmys-2011-amy-poehler-talks-about-parks-and-recreations-outstanding-comedy-nomination
"But it's a hot load of bullshit that he didn't get nominated, and you can quote me on that."
Granted, she probably guaranteed that she won't win with that comment, (does she really have a chance anyway?) but this interview makes me love her more than ever. Screw the Emmys.
Has anyone here seen It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? I just got the first three seasons and I know 3 things about it. 1. It's on F/X/. 2. The characters are all psychotic. 3. It got better reviews the longer it was on air. Did it change? Or did critics just warm to it?
I want Julie Bowen to win so badly! She's amazing and Hayden W gives the reason why.
And I agree Christa Miller is great, the women on Cougar Town rock, but Busy Philips is just laught out loud funny.
If I were Courteney Cox - and lord knows I've tried - then I think I'd be furious. Missing out for all those years on "Friends" and then again for three series of "Cougar Town". It's kinda disgraceful. She's the Emmys version of... Oh, I dunno. Who's never been nominated for an Oscar?
And, yeah, Busy Phillips. My god, BUSY PHILLIPS!
Just... :(
The Cloris Leachman thing is ridiculous. She gets nominated anywhere - SAG for "Spanglish"? - because she's old and if she's on stage she might say something rude. Oh, hi Betty White :|
Julie Bowen should win. But I really wish Heather Morris and Naya Rivera had been nominated. They were both amazing this season.
The actor submits themselves in whatever category they so choose. Leachman CHOSE to be in Guest Actress (I think she's gunning for EMMY nomination records? and she clearly wasn't getting in Supporting). And 'AMEN' to all of the snubs listed and mentioned above.
What, no Temple Grandin this year?
Mareko -- hee. i thik they have a time out. maybe next year.